An Analysis of the Spatial Interactions of Tourism Destinations(Case study: Aliabad Katoul city, Mohammad Abad-Zarrin Gol Area)

One of the characteristics of human settlements is their evolvability and dynamism. This dynamism in space enables the creation of spatial flows between cities and villages in the form of urban-rural links. The urban-rural links are the result of the mutual interactions of rural settlements and urban hubs in the field of an area being created by the flows of people, commodities and information. The formation and expansion of these spatial flows at different levels (local and regional) lead to the creation of spatial organization. Accordingly, the present paper is to analyze the spatial interactions of tourist destinations destinations of Mohammad Abad-Zarrin Gol region in Aliabad Katoul city. Data have been collected through documentation and field methods. In field method, inquiry technique and questionnaire instrument were used. Of course, some secondary data were collected from information centers such as Iranian Statistical Center and some organizations like governor’s office, the office of cultural heritage, tourism and handicrafts in Aliabad Katoul city. Due to the nature of the problem, it has been used the Social Network Analysis (SNA). In the method, there are three kinds of indicators that in the present research, macro indicators (network size, network density and network centrality) have been applied. Furthermore, in the method, stream data were analyzed by Nodexl software. According to the research findings, the following results were obtained: - Although spatial interactions at the regional level have been formed on the basis of environmental structures based on agricultural activities, they are more diverse in recent decade due to the changes of social-economic contexts and environmental potential (natural landscape) based on tourism activities and indigenous investments (related to tourism);